| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: word; go, I will rejoin you."
Milady ran up to her apartment quickly: she there found Rochefort's
lackey, and gave him his instructions.
He was to wait at the gate; if by chance the Musketeers should appear,
the carriage was to set off as fast as possible, pass around the
convent, and go and wait for Milady at a little village which was
situated at the other side of the wood. In this case Milady would cross
the garden and gain the village on foot. As we have already said,
Milady was admirably acquainted with this part of France.
If the Musketeers did not appear, things were to go on as had been
agreed; Mme. Bonacieux was to get into the carriage as if to bid her
The Three Musketeers |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: with these were three or four others, all men of dignity and
evident command, and bearing themselves like personages who were
accustomed to the gaze of the multitude. It was the idea of the
beholders that these figures went to join the mysterious funeral
that had halted in front of the Province House; yet that
supposition seemed to be contradicted by the air of triumph with
which they waved their hands, as they crossed the threshold and
vanished through the portal.
"In the devil's name what is this?" muttered Sir William Howe to
a gentleman beside him; "a procession of the regicide judges of
King Charles the martyr?"
Twice Told Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: plan that I have in mind - " he hesitated.
"I hope so; I am pretty nearly desperate," I said doggedly. "I've
got a mental toothache, and the sooner it's pulled the better."
"Tut, tut," said McKnight, "think of the disgrace to the firm if
its senior member goes up for life, or - " he twisted his
handkerchief into a noose, and went through an elaborate pantomime.
"Although jail isn't so bad, anyhow," he finished, "there are
fellows that get the habit and keep going back and going back."
He looked at his watch, and I fancied his cheerfulness was strained.
Hotchkiss was nervously fumbling my book.
"Did you ever read The Purloined Letter, Mr Blakeley?" he inquired.
The Man in Lower Ten |
